Kerr-McGee negotiates deal for 6.5 million acres offshore Bahamas

Petroleum News Houston staff

Exploration and production independent Kerr-McGee has added to its so-called Atlantic Margin trend, acquiring nine oil and gas licenses offshore the Bahamas.

The company said June 26 it negotiated the transaction directly with the Bahamas' government and that the deal includes a total of 6.5 million acres ranging in water depths of 650 to 7,000 feet. The licenses, 100 percent owned by Kerr-McGee, are in the Blake Plateau basin about 100 miles north of Freeport, Grand Bahamas Island.

The first phase of Kerr-McGee’s work program includes acquisition and interpretation of seismic data, but the company is not obligated to drill an exploration well, a spokeswoman for the company said. Kerr-McGee would not discuss financial terms.

The Bahamas' blocks expand Kerr-McGee’s exploration opportunities along the deepwater Atlantic Margin, where the company holds licenses offshore Nova Scotia, Brazil, Morocco, Benin and Gabon. With the addition, the company holds interests in more than 70 million undeveloped acres worldwide, 85 percent of which are situated in deepwater trends.

The Blake Plateau is located on the southern margin of a large structural terrace situated between the shelf margin and Atlantic abyssal plain. Kerr-McGee said its Bahamas' blocks contain multiple play types, including large untested carbonate structures similar to producing fields in North America and the Middle East.